Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Gates, Horatio

(Encyclopedia)Gates, Horatio, c.1727–1806, American Revolutionary general, b. Maldon, Essex, England. Entering the British army at an early age, he fought in America in the French and Indian War and served in the...

Longstreet, James

(Encyclopedia)Longstreet, James, 1821–1904, Confederate general in the American Civil War, b. Edgefield District, S.C. He graduated (1842) from West Point and served in the Mexican War, reaching the rank of major...

Anguilla

(Encyclopedia)Anguilla ăng-gwĭlˈə [key], island and British dependency (2015 est. pop. 15,000) 35 sq mi (91 sq km), West Indies, northernmost of the Leeward Islands. The capital is the town of The Valley. The p...

foreign exchange

(Encyclopedia)foreign exchange, methods and instruments used to adjust the payment of debts between two nations that employ different currency systems. A nation's balance of payments has an important effect on the ...

Jenin

(Encyclopedia)Jenin jĕˈnēn [key], town (2003 est. pop. 34,000), West Bank, at the southern entrance to the Esdraelon Valley and on the northern edge of the Samarian Highlands. It is an important crossroads, urba...

Vorarlberg

(Encyclopedia)Vorarlberg fōrˌärlˈbĕrkh [key], province (1991 pop. 331,472), 1,004 sq mi (2,600 sq km), extreme W Austria, bordering on Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and Germany. Bregenz, on the eastern shore of ...

Western Cape

(Encyclopedia)Western Cape, province (2011 pop. 5,822,734), 49,986 sq mi (129,462 sq km), SW South Africa, on the Atlantic and Indian oceans. In 1994, under South Africa's post-apartheid constitution, Western Cape ...

Yuma, city, United States

(Encyclopedia)Yuma yo͞oˈ mə [key], city (1990 pop. 54,923), seat of Yuma co., extreme SW Ariz., on the eastern bank of the Colorado River near the confluence of the Gila River; founded 1854, inc. as a city 1914....

Shapur I

(Encyclopedia)Shapur I säˈpôr [key], d.272, king of Persia (241–72), son and successor of Ardashir I, of the Sassanid, or Sassanian, dynasty. He was an able warrior king. Although he was defeated by the Roman ...

Gates, Sir Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Gates, Sir Thomas, fl. 1585–1621, English colonial governor of Virginia. He was knighted for his services under the 2d earl of Essex in the successful expedition against Cádiz in 1596. Gates, who h...

Browse by Subject